Latest Comments for Grand Theft Auto 5's Gender Problem on http://www.onthemedia.org/http://www.onthemedia.org/story/grand-theft-auto-5s-gender-problem/Latest Comments for Grand Theft Auto 5's Gender Problem on http://www.onthemedia.org/en-usSun, 24 Nov 2013 20:05:53 -0500600cleanComment #479745 on Grand Theft Auto 5's Gender Problem
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/grand-theft-auto-5s-gender-problem/#comment479745"Why can't video games have an Orange is the New Black?"
_Portal_ and _Portal 2_ (one of the highest-rated games of all time), both told entirely from a female character's point of view, don't count? Or can female characters only be legitimate if they're as cynically portrayed as men are in other games?
Sun, 24 Nov 2013 20:05:53 -0500http://www.onthemedia.org/story/grand-theft-auto-5s-gender-problem/#comment479745Comment #465642 on Grand Theft Auto 5's Gender Problem
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/grand-theft-auto-5s-gender-problem/#comment465642
The game is a reflection of reality.
The prisons are filled with which gender? Last I checked it was at 90%+ male and its not going to change anytime soon.
The violent crime narrative is a male one, and asking "questions" about portrayals in such story telling is a bit ridiculous. Its like asking why bella swan in twilight wasn't a guy, and are women sexist for not wanting it to be that way.
Sat, 21 Sep 2013 03:42:45 -0400http://www.onthemedia.org/story/grand-theft-auto-5s-gender-problem/#comment465642Comment #464962 on Grand Theft Auto 5's Gender Problem
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/grand-theft-auto-5s-gender-problem/#comment464962Geez, if you don't like the game, don't play it.
Wed, 18 Sep 2013 13:12:06 -0400http://www.onthemedia.org/story/grand-theft-auto-5s-gender-problem/#comment464962Comment #464743 on Grand Theft Auto 5's Gender Problem
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/grand-theft-auto-5s-gender-problem/#comment464743Unfortunately, change like this has to come from the top down. You can raise consciousness later, but in the beginning, unless a big player like EA or Microsoft puts their foot down, things will never change. Most people are highly compartmentalised---they think they're totally PC in 'real' life, but then don't see any problem with misogyny or ultra-violence in virtual life.
Wed, 18 Sep 2013 01:26:32 -0400http://www.onthemedia.org/story/grand-theft-auto-5s-gender-problem/#comment464743Comment #464697 on Grand Theft Auto 5's Gender Problem
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/grand-theft-auto-5s-gender-problem/#comment464697I think the main reason is because the target audience is young males. So they have the main protagonist as a young male
Tue, 17 Sep 2013 18:51:27 -0400http://www.onthemedia.org/story/grand-theft-auto-5s-gender-problem/#comment464697Comment #464685 on Grand Theft Auto 5's Gender Problem
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/grand-theft-auto-5s-gender-problem/#comment464685I think video games are beginning to see significant entries that begin to address the aforementioned problematic balance and diversity in perspective. The recent independent entry Gone Home seems a sterling example of such a sapling trend. More and more small, intimately produced projects are seem to be following a similar course, though only time will tell.
The problem though, and this is the root behind so many troubling and stubborn issues in video games today, is that the investment of time, money, and manpower to produce the sort of games with mass-market scope and appeal that something like GTAV boasts is astronomical and only growing steadily by the year. Imagine if every television show that ever garnered any broad public exposure required the budget and polish of Game of Thrones.
The number of studios that can boast such budgets ever is small and shrinking. Remove from that small pool all the studios who produce games with no real narrative space to begin with (though the gender politics of Madden or could stand some exploration, now that I think of it.) Let's also discount some of the more mercenary mega-studios and their gentry who are rather tethered to pushing out safe iterations on established franchises and formulas (read: violent, white, male, 20s-30s, bestubbled) to recoup their enormous costs.
The pool is now a puddle, with less than a handful of established studios with the reliable draw and creative drive to attempt narrative exploration on a blockbuster scale. Rockstar is one of those few though, and with GTAV come and gone, that opportunity for "Orange is the New Black: Xbox Edition" may be farther off than ever.
Tue, 17 Sep 2013 17:13:29 -0400http://www.onthemedia.org/story/grand-theft-auto-5s-gender-problem/#comment464685Comment #464679 on Grand Theft Auto 5's Gender Problem
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/grand-theft-auto-5s-gender-problem/#comment464679It has been interesting to see a shift in how gender issues are critiqued in games from one that deals with the content of the game, to one that primarily focuses on the creator's assumptions of their audience. Gender issues in video games used to focus on violence against women, sexualized depictions of women, and the ways it portrayed females to male gamers. Tomb Raider had the most notable female protagonist, but was to most minds not progressive because Lara Croft was culturally perceived as a teenage crush by male Playstation owners (let's leave Metroid out of this).
The Saint's Row series has no shortage of prostitutes, scantily-clad and sexualized female characters but has been applauded, perhaps in a tongue-in-cheek manner, for requiring the player to establish the gender and body type of the protagonist. GTA V seems to assume that the player is a man looking to fulfill masculine fantasies. Saint's Row allows that perhaps a woman would like to take a flame thrower to the city park too.
Is our new litmus test whether a woman can pick up the controller and play without being forced to assume a male identity, rather than the old model of whether the content included stereotypes and sex workers?
Tue, 17 Sep 2013 16:50:06 -0400http://www.onthemedia.org/story/grand-theft-auto-5s-gender-problem/#comment464679